Earlier this year, HRC announced its partnership with Fundación Iguales, Chile’s largest LGBT advocacy group, to promote LGBT-inclusive policies and best practices among Chilean employers. HRC Equidad CL is designed to help build stronger LGBT-inclusive workplace policies and practices, and recognize companies and multinationals in Chile fostering a corporate culture that embraces LGBT employees. In coming months, the Chile-based effort, inspired by HRC’s annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI), the  premier U.S. benchmarking tool on corporate LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practices, will collect responses to the survey and release results in early 2019.

At today’s event, hosted by the leading global accounting firm Deloitte, HRC was joined by representatives of  major corporations committing to undertake the new survey, which evaluates businesses based on three core pillars of LGBT inclusion:

• Adoption of nondiscrimination policies;
• Creation of employee resource groups or diversity and inclusion councils; and
• Engagement in public activities to support LGBT inclusion.

“As HRC expands its efforts to bring LGBT workplace equality across the Americas, we are excited to work with Iguales to promote LGBT-inclusive practices among Chilean employers,” said Deena Fidas, HRC Director of HRC Equidad MX and HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, and co-author of the CEI. “As we have seen in the U.S. and Mexico, more corporations identify LGBT inclusion as a fundamental value that provides a competitive business edge and greater economic impact. We commend Chile for its leadership on promoting an LGBT-inclusive corporate culture across Chile and throughout the South American region.”

“In the same way that companies have tried to strengthen their work environment and the levels of employee satisfaction, implementing LGBT-inclusive benchmarks reflects a reality that is relevant for new generations of professionals,” said Ricardo Briggs, CEO and Regional Managing Partner of Deloitte. “Deloitte Chile has the firm conviction that our differences make a difference, be they cultural, racial, sexual orientation, gender and different capacities, valuing diversity as a fundamental principle of our DNA.”

“It is imperative for us to work collaboratively to guarantee workplace environments that respect sexual orientation and gender identity at all levels” said Matías Verdugo, General Manager of Empresas SB. “Evaluating ourselves under international standards in these matters helps us to identify the gaps and ensure discrimination-free workplaces”

“HRC Equidad CL is driving unprecedented progress among major Chilean employers committed to invest in diversity and LGBT inclusion,” said Emilio Maldonado, Executive Director of Fundación Iguales and HRC Equidad CL Implementing Partner. “We are proud to work with HRC to continue to expand LGBT equality and help business leaders achieve optimal work environments and LGBT-inclusive policies for all employees.

HRC Equidad CL recently developed a new Spanish-language business toolkit designed to help LGBT employees and allies start a dialogue with senior leaders about LGBT workplace practices. This resource is especially helpful to Latin American employers striving to create welcoming environments by investing in LGBT inclusion.

Through its partnerships with local organizations, HRC is leading the efforts to advance LGBT workplace inclusion and equality in workplaces across the U.S., Mexico and Chile impacting more than 14.5 million employees worldwide .

For more information on HRC’s Global Workplace Equality Programs and business toolkits, please visit hrc.im/equidadCL.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation is the educational arm of America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

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